This invention relates generally to the field of mail processing machines, and more particularly to mailing machines having automatic mail feeding devices which feed mail seriatim from a stack for processing in the mailing machine.
Mail processing machines of the type to which the present invention relates have long been well known and have achieved widespread commercial success. Although there are numerous variations of mailing machines available, the device of the present invention is particularly adapted for use with mailing machines which are designed to handle large quantities of mail at a high rate of speed, and thus are used particularly by medium to high volume mailers, such as commercial institutions having monthly mailings to large numbers of customers, i.e., banks, utilities, insurance companies, catalog sales companies, etc.
Mailing machines of the type to which the present invention relates typically include an elongated feed deck along which mail pieces of the same or varying size are fed by a suitable feeding mechanism past a plurality of processing components. Typically, a suitable hopper for holding a stack of mail pieces is situated on the feed deck at the inlet end of the machine, and a plurality of nudger rollers projecting upwardly through the feed deck urge the bottom mail piece into a separating or singulating device which ensures that only one mail piece at a time is fed into the mailing machine. An envelope flap moistening, closing and sealing device is situated adjacent to the separating device for moistening the gummed surface of the envelope flaps and for closing and sealing them to the rear panel of the envelopes. A postage meter having a suitable printing device is situated adjacent to the flap closing and sealing device for printing a postage indicia on the mail pieces, after which they are fed to a suitable stacking device where they are prepared for mailing. In more sophisticated mailing machines, a scale is interposed along the feed deck between the envelope flap closing and sealing device and the postage meter so as to weigh the mail pieces as they pass along the feed deck, thereby enabling the postage meter to print and appropriate amount of postage depending on the weight of the mail piece.
Mailing machines of the type described above are typically technologically sophisticated machines, involving a variety of complex mechanical devices and mechanisms, as well as complex computerized electronic control device, all under the control of appropriate software. As such, these machines are relatively costly to obtain and maintain, with the result that they are cost effective to own and operate only if the operator generates a substantially large volume of mail, and the machine is maintained in operation for substantially long periods of time. It is apparent that any type of circumstance that suddenly prevents the mailing machine from operating properly and results in down time for service, repair or jam clearing, results in a reduction in the cost effectiveness of the machine, and ultimately may result in the machine no longer being commercially viable. Also, they are generally cost effective only if they can handle a variety of sizes of mail pieces, typically ranging from standard post cards to envelopes up to 14 inches in width.
In order for these mailing machines to function properly, it is essential that the mail pieces be fed into the machine in a precise orientation with respect to the longitudinal axis of the machine. If the mail pieces are not fed in the proper orientation consistently, the flap closing and sealing device may not function properly, the weighing device may give an incorrect weight and the postage meter may not print the postage indicia in the prescribed location on the envelope. To ensure that the envelopes are fed in the proper feeding orientation, mailing machines are typically provided with a registration wall against which the top edges of the mail pieces are urged by the feeding mechanism when they are first separated from the stack and fed into the separating device. However, even if all of the envelopes in the stack are properly aligned and the stack is initially placed in the hopper of the feeding mechanism properly, there is still a possibility that envelopes can be skewed relative to the longitudinal axis of the mailing machine by the nudging and separating rollers as the envelope is extracted from beneath the stack and fed onto the feed deck. This tendency for envelopes to skew during separation and initial feeding becomes more pronounced as the width of envelopes in the stack increases, due to the nature of the placement of the separating and feeding rollers on the deck of the mailing machine.
This problem has been partially overcome in prior art mailing machines by the provision of a variety of side guides built into the mailing machine which abut the forward edges of the envelopes in the stack so as to prevent the bottom envelopes from skewing when they are separated from the stack. The problems that have arisen with the prior art side guides is that they are not sufficiently adjustable to handle the range of envelopes typically encountered by mailing machines of the type described above, that they are awkward or difficult to manipulate when changing from a stack of one size of envelope to a stack of another size, that they are relatively complex in construction and therefore unduly costly to add to a mailing machine that is already costly, and that the nature of the design and construction often tends to interfere with easy and rapid placement of a stack of envelope in the hopper of the feeding mechanism.
Thus, as the speed, volume and envelope size capacity of mailing machines increases, there is more and more of a demand for a very simple and inexpensive, highly effective and easy to manipulate envelope side for such mailing machines.